Digitartic: bi-manual gestural control of articulation in performative singing synthesis

Digitartic, a system for bi-manual gestural control of Vowel-Consonant-Vowelperformative singing synthesis is presented. This system is an extension of areal-time gesture-controlled vowel singing instrument developed in the Max/MSPlanguage. In addition to pitch, vowels and voice strength control, Digitarticis designed for gestural control of articulation parameters for a wide set onconsonant, including various places and manners of articulation. The phases ofarticulation between two phonemes are continuously controlled and can bedriven in real time without noticeable delay, at any stage of the syntheticphoneme production. Thus, as in natural singing, very accurate rhythmicpatterns are produced and adapted while playing with other musicians. Theinstrument features two (augmented) pen tablets for controlling voiceproduction: one is dealing with the glottal source and vowels, the second oneis dealing with consonant/vowel articulation. The results show very naturalconsonant and vowel synthesis. Virtual choral practice confirms theeffectiveness of Digitartic as an expressive musical instrument.